US signed with UAE to sell $3.5bn arms

WASHINGTON: The United States has signed a $3.5 billion sale of an advanced antimissile interception system to the United Arab Emirates, part of an accelerating military build-up of its friends and allies near Iran.

The deal, signed on Dec. 25 and announced on Friday night by the US Defence Department, "is an important step in improving the region's security through a regional missile defence architecture," Pentagon press secretary George Little said in a statement.

The US Congress had been notified of the proposed sale in September 2008 by former President George W. Bush's administration. At that time, the system built by Lockheed Martin Corp had been projected to involve more missiles, more "fire control" units, more radar sets, all at a cost roughly twice as much to UAE.

It marks the first foreign sale of the so-called Theatre High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD), the only system designed to destroy short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles both inside and outside the Earth's atmosphere.

The United States, under the government-to-government deal, will deliver two THAAD batteries, 96 missiles, two Raytheon Co AN/TPY-2 radars plus 30 years of spare parts, support and training with contractor logistics support to the UAE, Little said.

"Acquisition of this critical defence system will bolster the UAE's air and missile defence capability and enhance the already robust ballistic missile defence cooperation between the United States and the UAE," he said.

Lockheed Martin did not immediately respond to a request for its delivery timetable for THAAD, part of a layered bulwark being built by the Obama administration in Europe and the Middle East against Iran's growing missile capabilities.

Copyright Reuters, 2011